Rika 1-2
by Alsend Drake
Summary: -AU/OC warning- Rika Saotome arrives at the Tendo dojo, once a boy named Ranma, she is happy to get to be herself thanks to the magic of Juseynko, even if hot water returns her to her male form until she can get more cold water.
1. Chapter 1

Sorry for being gone, and starting another one, though hopefully Ill be able to get this idea out of my head and get back to my other ones. See, im the type who's writer's block comes in the form of other ideas in my head, and then I cant focus on old projects.  
So, pure Ranma here, yep, no Miraculous at all GASP!  
A few things to open with:  
AU Fic There will be some OOC, due to differing experiences. If you dont like that, dont read AU fics My OC Aki will make an appearence, my current plan is just before Ryoga shows up.  
Again, as part of the AU, I changed Ryoga's curse. see above.  
Also, Ranma(Chan)XAkane will happen, I dont really do Ranma X Ryoga/Shampoo/Ukyo, and like the ship, either form.

Also, obvious is obvious: I don't own rights to Ranma 1/2 and mainly write to practice and for fun Aki IS my character, though he/she doesn't show up for a bit.  
Scenarios as it continues will shift and stray from canon for obvious reasons.

* * *

It was a dreary day in Nerima, as a Panda and Girl walked down the street, getting quite a few glares. The girl kept trying to stop to look at what the shops had, but the panda kept yanking her, eventually resorting to a sign. 'Hurry up, boy.' it read, and the red-head just rolled her eyes.

"Really, pops, ya better put on ya glasses, I don't see no boy 'round here." she grumbled. "Now, let's just get to your friend's place so we can sort things out, and then I'm gonna come back and look around." she grumbled.

'No boy of mine is gonna do something so girly!' the sign reads, as the panda then quickly swings it at her, missing as she hops away.

"Well, good thing I ain't no boy, huh?" she plucks the sign from his hand. "Now, let's get going, pops." she yanks him along, as she heads to the Tendo house.

* * *

At the Tendo Dojo, the Tendo girls stared at their father incredulously. "what do you mean you've never met him?!" the youngest, Akane, exclaimed at her father's anouncement. "How could you try to marry one of us off to this... Ranma... without even having met him?!" she was quite angry, and stormed out of the house, heading towards the dojo.

Kasumi watched her sister storm off. "You know how excitable Akane is, father. You should've known she'd do this." she looked at the man who had burst into tears.

"Waaah! My daughter hates me!"

"You know that's not true, father. She's just upset."

Nabiki said nothing, thinking to herself about how she could possibly manipulate the situation. However, her thoughts were interupted by an "Oh, my!" from Kasumi as a Red-haired girl dragged a panda in, Akane following them.

"These two were up front walking in. These your friends?" She looked at her father who was struck speachless, and shook his head.

"Suuure, Daddy, and this panda just decided to drop by." Nabiki rolled her eyes, the last to join the group, eyeing the redhead, who looked a bit sheepish.

"Hello, I'm Rika Saotome. Sorry 'bout this" she said, and was quickly hugged by Soun, sobbing, as he heard 'Saotome' and was snapped from his daze, having missed the rest.

"Oh, my boy! It's so great you're finally here!" he gushed, the redhead very uncomferable and trying to escape his grasp. She finally manages to push away, and Soun looks to her, frezing.

"What's with everyone calling me boy?! I'm a girl, and happy 'bout it!" she growled at the man. hearing this, Akane taps her shoulder. "Huh?"

"Hello, I'm Akane Tendo, want to be friends?" she smile at the red-head who smiles back after what was said registers.

"I'd love to. You practice Martial Arts?" she asks, gesturing at Akane's Gi, who nods. "How 'bout we go to the dojo and I can see where you are, maybe I can help 'ya."

"Help me?"

"Well, I've been on an intense training trip for 'bout a decade now, odds are I know a few things you don't, now come on!" she practically drags Akane into the Dojo.

* * *

Genma walks into the main room, once again a man, as Soun quickly stands. "Saotome! It's great to see you, I was afraid when that girl showed up claiming to be a Saotome with that panda, but now you're here! Where's Ranma?" He looked behind his friend for the boy.

"Uh... about that, Tendo..." Genma chuckles lightly, tightening his bandana.

* * *

"Akane?" The redhead says, a bit nervously as they close the dojo's entrance.

"Yes, Rika?" she turns to the girl in the chinese outfit.

"If we're going to be friends... I want to be completely honest with you... And I wanna say the truth, instead of the twisted mess pops is gonna do..." He scratches her arm, head angled down as she looks at the other girl.

"The truth?" she echos, a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Yeah... I don't want you to think I'm some... boy." she shudders.

"Why would I think that?"

"Because I'm... I'm... I guess the term is... 'Trans'." she burns red.

"Like... you're actually a guy... or?"

"I'm a girl!" she snapped back, then realized what she did. "F-force of habit. I was born a guy... and I'm still physicly male sometimes."

"Sometimes?" she was really confused.

"Well... pops was always insisting I be a man among men, whatever that means. He never would let me be, well... me. A few weeks ago, we went to this place, Jusyenko. If you fall in a spring, you take the form of whatever drowned there when splashed with cold water, and hot water reverses it. I was lucky enough to fall into the Spring of Drowned Girl and managed to get out of there before anything could happen that would reverse it. As far as I'm concerned, my curse is Hot Water makes my physicly male again. Pops turns into a panda."

"So that panda?"

"Was pops? Yeah, and he's probably gonna try to force an engagement between our families. He still seems to think I'm a guy."

"Well, that's no problem, if you're really a girl, then you just need to find the right guy." Akane smiles, but falters as Rika squirms at that.

"Uh... thats..." she buries her face in her hands.

"What's wrong?" Akane gets closer and Rika looks up.

"I..I couldnt imagine being with a... a... guy." she looks anywhere but at the cute tomboy looking at her.

"Oh..." is the only reply that came to Akane's lips.

"I'm so sorry... I just didn't want you to find out the wrong way. I really want to be your friend." Rika smiles a bit. "Well, you wanna spar?" she takes a casual pose.

* * *

That evening, Rika and her father sat across from the Tendos. "Girls, this is Genma Saotome, and his son Ranma." Soun announced, not even noticeing Rika's sad look and wince at calling her Genma's son.

"Daddy, I know you wanted this engagement, but she's clearly a girl." Nabiki looks at her father.

"That's true..." Rika speaks up. "But... I'm not always. Like how hot water turns pops into his birth form, it turns me into a guy, though I still hold that I am a girl up here." she taps her head. "And here." she gestures to her heart.

"Nonsense, boy!"

"I ain't no boy!" she tosses Genma into the Koi Pond, who emerges as a panda. "Ya better get that through your thick skull, pops!"

Once everyone settles back down, and Genma is returned to human form, Soun looks to Rika. "Choose any of my daughters to be your bride." Hearing this, Rika stuck her tounge out.

"I ain't gonna pick one. It's not right to decide a girl's love life for her, get with the times." However, this is quickly lost with the elder Tendo sisters interuption.

"It should be Akane!" Nabiki calls out even as Kasumi calmly states "I think Akane would be the best choice."

"What?! Why Me?!" The girl in question blurts.

"Because little sis..." Nabiki starts "...you hate boys, right? Well, Ranma's mostly girl, so that fixes things."

"Who ever said I don't like boys in general?!" Rika looks down a bit.

"Then it's decided, Ranma and Akane will get married!" Soun cries, tears of happiness.

"Did you hear what I just said?!" the redhead protested, ignored.

"Yes, Tendo, the schools will be joined soon!" Rika just rolls her eyes, and drags Akane off to the dojo.

"Look at them, Saotome! I'm so proud!"

* * *

"Why'd you drag me out here?" Akane complained. "You know what the others will think." She glared at the red-head.

"I just... Wanted to talk... Even after all of this. We still friends?" She gave a small, hopeful look, and Akane felt her anger dissipate and she nodded.

"Of course... Rika." She smiled

"Also, Akane... I have to tell the truth. If I had to choose... I'd prefer you. You're such a good person, even with that temper you showed in our match." she laughed lightly. "I'd even call you a cute tomboy, but get this." She made a mock angry face. "I'M the biggest tomboy 'round here, got it?" The two paused a moment, and burst out laughing.


	2. Chapter 2

Ranma doesn't belong to me.  
May have some OOC, due to differing experiences, this IS an AU.  
Honestly, I don't have a huge plan currently, I'm just kinda writing to write.  
Anyways, time to go to school

Also a quick note, now that the curse will come into play: For any of you who haven't read my Crossover Fic that's on hold due to writer's block, Miraculous Ranma (Basicly this AU meets Miraculous Ladybug) I use differing names for Rika/Ranma, so Rika is female form, Ranma is male form, and will always use female pronouns.

Also a note, I'm American, im gonna have the names sorted First Name, Last Name. Also, I'm not too familiar with japanese schools. Right now, I'm working off what I've seen in the show, and some research, so I appologize for any mistakes

* * *

Rika stows the bottle of cold water she'd snuck out of the house back in her back, now female once again. "Isn't there going to be confusion with the teachers?" Askane asks her as the readhead hops up to the fence.

"It's not my problem if pops insisted on registering me wrong." she shrugs. "They'll just have to deal with it."

"I'm not too sure about that. The principle is, well, crazy."

"How bad can he be?" Rika shrugged

"Remember that upperclassman who basicly has caused me to be attacked every day? Well, he gets away with it because his dad runs the school." Hearing this, Rika scowled.

"Well, then... Perhaps adding me into the mix will help... persuade them to stop."

"There's no stopping Kuno."

"Well, perhaps we can still scare off the others, make it much less we have to fight."

"That's actually a great idea!" Akane smiled. "Maybe things will work out after all."

* * *

After the two girls easily defeated the attacking boys, Rika followed Akane's eyeline to an older boy with a bokken in his hand.

"Of course, none of this boorish lot could defeat you, Akane Tendo. That is only possible by me, Tatewaki Kuno, the..."

"Blah, Blah, Blah. You talk too much." Rika rolls her eyes at the boy's flowery speach.

"And who may you be, fair maiden?" the Kuno boy glared at her.

"Name's Ri..."

"Wait, the trely gentlemanly thing to do is to introduce oneself first! I am-"

"Hey, that was pretty rude!" her complaint fell upon deaf ears.

"-Tatewaki Kuno, the rising star of the kendo world-"

"Only rising? Lame. Also, I think you forgot that you already intro... who am I kidding, you're not even listening."

"-And the Blue Thunder of Furynken High!"

"Ok, then, that it?" she glares. "Good, name's Rika Saotome, of the Saotome school of Anything Goes." she leans forward a bit, on guard, even without looking it, and taunted. "You look kinda rediculous with that wooden stick, y'know." she easilly leaps over Kuno as he attacks. "'Kane doesnt apreciate you constantly attacking her, y'know?"

"Nonsense, The Fierce Tigress is but to shy to admit her feelings to me." Kuno is snapped from his delusion by a kick sending his bokken from his hand.

"NEVER take your mind off the fight. Or hold back. Either onea those could cost ya. 'Sides, 'ya better stop chasing her, or there are some people who may take exception."

"How DARE you threaten me, of the noble Kuno house!"

"Threaten? What gives you that idea?" she give an innocent look. "I'm warning you." with that, she walked off. "Come on, Akane, you don't want to be late, do you?"

* * *

When Rika and Akane enter the room, the teacher was there early, and looks to her. "Are you..." she looks at the paper. "Ranma Saotome?" she eyes the redhead skepticly.

"Yes ma'am, I am. Though I do prefer to do by Rika, I... I've had bad experiences as Ranma, and hope I can leave them behind me.

"I can understand, it says you've been on a training trip for about a decade, I can just immagine how hard that was on you, though it says here you're registered as a boy." The girl in question growled lightly.

"Figures. My pop always wanted me to be a Man Among Men, even though I was a girl" she intentionally neglects to mention the full truth quite yet. "He's always done this, heck, he even managed to get me into an all-boys Junior High!" she sighs. "That's part of why I wanna leave Ranma behind, Ranma is... might as well be... a guy, and I'm not."

Soon enough the class arrives, Rika standing up front. "Class, we have another new student today." she starts, gesturing to the red-head.

"Hi, I'm Rika Saotome." she starts.

* * *

Class had gone nice and calm, though Rika was constantly expecting the other shoe to drop, she had started to relax my lunch, when Akane dragged her along to eat with her friends. However, they never made it there, stopped by an insane bokken-wielding boy.

"Halt, you!" He glared at the girls. "I shall not allow my fierce tigress to be engaged to anyone, let alone you!" he bellowed, drawing looks.

'How did? Nabiki...' Akane mentally groaned to herself.

"We ain't engaged, ya idiot, ya know that doesn't happen between two girls." Rika lept to defend her new friend. "Aint our faults my pop's aparently got this delusion I'm a guy, is it?"

"Vile Lies!" he bellows. "Now fall before the might of the Blue Thunder!"

"Shut it, Kuno." a somewhat bored looking boy cut in.

"Stay out of this, newbie!" the insane samurai turns to the new boy, who just rolls his eyes, ignores the rant, and turns to the girls.

"Don't worry 'bout it, you two go on to your friends." He gestures in the direction of Akane's friends.

"How DARE you, Kitsaka!"

"I told you to shut it, Kuno!"

* * *

The rest of the school day had gone pretty quietly, though the weather had taken a turn for the worse as it started to rain. Partway back, the two girls are called after. "Hey, Rika." The girls turn and see someone bundled up in a heavy coat and hat.

"Who're you?" Akane studies the girl closely.

"You can call me Aki." She nods. "I got a letter for Rika here." she hands over the letter and waves. "Later, you two!" and walks off.

"Hey, wait!" Akane calls, but the girl's gone. "What was that all about?" she turns to see Rika staring at the envelope. "What is it?" she leans over and reads it's address:

Ranma Saotome.

* * *

Sorry bout it being short, But I wanted to get it done, since I've got another project, a little one-shot in honor of Rouge One I wanna do, that one day may get more, likely when Episode 8 comes out :P


	3. Chapter 3

"You're already getting letters, Rika" Akane poked the girl, who had frozen as she saw one little detail that Akane had missed, the letter's address date: written 3 days ago. "Any bets on who sent it?"

"This is more, I doubt anyone outside our class really heard of my birth name, and everyone else called me Rika today, but that's a moot point, look." she points out the detail. "This letter was addressed 3 days ago. Someone knew I was going to be in the area somehow.

"What, do you think it's a stalker?" She looked at the redhead worried for her friend's safety.

"Might as well find out." Rika shrugs, tearing open the letter and reading it. "Hello, Ranma, I apologize if you've ended up wanting another name, but I only recently even got wind of you being cursed in a recent attack by a crazy girl from the Juseynko area. I have written this letter to be ready for when you arrive to give you a warning. Ryoga Hibiki has been trying, mostly unsuccessfully, to find you, and he's not too happy with you. I managed to get rid of him somewhere in Japan, but with his sense of direction, he could show up anytime, or never." she read.

"Ryoga Hibiki? Do you know someone by that name?"

"I don't... wait!" She snaps. "That boy's school, No-Direction Sense Hibiki! He used to go to that school, I'd walk him to school everyday and we were kind of like rivals, always racing to grab the bread when they tossed the excess to us at lunch."

"The message said he wasn't very happy though" Akane pointed at that line.

"Somehow I don't think it has anything to do with the bread... The only other thing is we agreed to a last spar before I left behind his house, I waited for 4 days before falling asleep, and woke up somewhere else being carried by Pops."

"Maybe he thought it was something more than just a spar, a final battle? But that wouldn't explain why he's still looking for you, I mean, he took 4 days to get there... And you really shouldn't spent that much time without sleep."

"I know that, but I was a kid then, what can I say?" she shrugs, looking over the letter. "It's signed... 'Aki'"

"That's an odd name..." Akane thought. "I've never heard of anyone with that name before."

"Let's not worry about it too much for now, with Ryoga's direction sense, he's just as likely to be in Paris as he is to be in town."

* * *

"Damn you, Ranma Saotome..." A bandana-wearing boy grumbles, looking around the city and seeing someone bundled up, even though it wasn't very cold. "Excuse me, can you tell me where I am?" he calls, as the person turns.

"Oh, you're in Nerima. Hey, Ryoga! Took you long enough!" the girl greets him as she realizes just who he is.

"Do... I know you?"

"Oh, the bundle, silly me!" she pulls off her cap, as two vulpine ears come into view, cluing Ryoga into the identity of the girl immediately.

"Aki! How'd you make it here before me?" He starts to subtly look around.

"You got really lost I'd bet, as usual. I told you following me may've been the best." she shrugs, she HAD given him the proper directions, knowing he'd get lost giving her time to warn Rika. "Don't worry, I've yet to see Shampoo here, and even if she were here..." she leans in closer. "She's not after me when I'm like this!" she whispers, putting that hat back on. "Though if I'd fallen into the spring you did, I'd likely get less stares, not much I can do on that." she shrugs. "And don't get raving on that curse of yours, it could be a lot worse, you could've turned into some small, helpless animal! At least you can walk around and not get weird looks after a water accident."

Ryoga focuses on the girl. "How long have you been in town?"

"Oh, just a couple days, just getting into school."

"Have you seen Ranma?"

"No, I haven't seen Ranma." She answered truthfully. 'Because she's Rika' the girl thought to herself. "Though he may be around here, I've seen that idiot panda a couple times, but Ryoga?" He looks to her as he had been turning to leave. "Please, try to talk first, from what I've picked up, odds are that it's more Genma you should be after." She tried, knowing it likely wouldn't help, Ryoga was about as stubborn as his sense of direction was bad.

* * *

The next day the Saotome and Tendo girls approached the school, preparing for a fight, when they saw something surprising, something that based on what had been happening was unexpected: The Horde were being attacked, and seemed to be in disarray as they were unused to being the attacked and put on the defense. The two girls arrived, noting the attacker wasn't very good at keeping them down, but his attack plus the arrival of the girls sent the horde fleeing, revealing the aggressor as the other new student who had interfered the day before. "Kitsaka! I know you are new to this establishment, but this challenge is for the Fierce Tigress and the new girl, not a knave such as yourself."

"What can I say, they kept pestering me to join the fight even after I flat out told them what they're doing is wrong, so I did join it... by beating on them." He looked to the two. "If you two would like, go on to class, I'll cover today for ya, from what I've heard you've likely beat on this idiot enough to last for many lifetimes." Akane almost retorted back hot-headedly about fighting her own fights, but an arm from the smaller girl stopped her.

"Look at how he's standing." She points at him

"He's not even in a stance!" Akane growls, thinking he was making light of her.

"No, I recognize it, remember I did a similar thing? Make it look like you're not ready encourages an enemy to make a hasty, overpowered strike, and based on what I could see with the horde, his style is more a fast, evasive one, but seems to have sacrificed power for speed, making him best when he can counter an enemy's blow and turn it against them." Rika says, guiding Akane to the door even as she sizes up the boy.

Believing the boy to not be paying attention, Kuno struck, aiming to win in a single blow, unaware that he was playing right into the boy's hands. Fast as lightning, he dropped his torso, hand on the ground as he kicked the Bokken out of the hedonist's hand, and planting himself heavily in the boy's path, forcing him to either trip over him or leap aside, while readied to pounce on a leap, but he had overestimated the boy as Kuno tripped right over the blockade, leaving him an easy target for a solid knockout blow.

"I think it may be best to keep an eye on him, knowing what Martial Artists are around and what they can do is always a useful thing to know." Rika whispered to Akane as they entered their class.

* * *

At lunch, a certain bandana-wearing boy was stalking through the grounds, with one thing on his lips: "Have you seen Ranma Saotome?" Eventually he tapped a certain red-head, who looked at him.

"Hey, Ryoga!" she giggled. "Fancy seeing you here!"

"Do... I know you?"

"In a way, my name's Rika, I'd heard that thanks to Pop's stupidity, you got really mad"

"Who? I'm looking for Ranma Saotome."

"I was speaking of Genma Saotome."

"Genma's your father? But Ranma was an only... His eyes narrowed. "How dare you try and make a fool of me, Saotome!"

"Ryoga, I don't want to fight. I really tried to wait for you, but my body fell asleep on me and Pops dragged me off, and I had no clue where I was."

"Too bad, Ranma, because I want to fight!" Rika's forced to jump away as Ryoga's fist buries itself in the ground as the Lost Boy, as usual, didn't even listen to what was said.

"I told you, I'm Rika! And you're endangering innocents, Ryoga!" She jumps onto the fence. "Ryoga, if you really wanna fight, follow me."

"Running away, Saotome?"

"No, I'm ensuring the safety of innocents, like any real Martial Artist would."

"How DARE you?! I've seen Hell because of you, Saotome!"

The two go back and forth as Rika leads him to a safe area to fight since talking wasn't working

The boy from the morning watched them, then looked to Akane. "You're that Akane Tendo those idiots were after, right?" she nods, wondering what this boy wanted. "Keep an eye out, in case it ends up here again, ok? We gotta protect whoever we can..."

"And just who are you to fight my fight and tell me what to do?" Akane tenses up, this was a boy, and all boys are perverts, after all.

"I apologize, my name's Adam Kitsaka. I'm pretty new to this school, but things are already pretty screwed up, with that idiot Kuno and now Ryoga showing up"

"You say that like you know him..."

"It's... a long story. And if you DONT want help dealing with those idiots, I'll stand back, even if I hate seeing that mess happen." he promises. "But I gotta go to make sure people are safe." he hops after them, moving at a greater speed, not needing to move and fight.


	4. Chapter 4

Rika dodged another thrown bandana, growing in frustration as she realizes they've returned to Furinken. "Damn it, Ryoga you idiot!" She grumbled, at least a bit glad that lunch was over so there wasnt anyone there, but annoyed she was missing class. "We're right back at Furinken! I told you we needed to move it elsewhere to minimize risk!"

"You destroyed my life, Ranma!" was Ryoga's extremely deep reply, his bandanas being dodged by an agile leap.

"I told you, Ryoga, it's Rika!" she leaps into a flurry of motion, striking his legs and arms, battering them as she smacks away some of his weapons. "I. Am. Not. Ranma! I. Will. Never. Be. Him!" She puctuates each strike, focusing on disarming him, then flows over his punch by inches, flipping over him, a hand on his head, then planting her feet on his back and pushing off, just barely able to momentarilly knock him off balance, and right to another person just arriving.

"Seriously, Ryoga, what did I tell you? Talk. To. Her. Didnt you even hear what she said?"

"A...Adam, you know Ranma's a no good lying coward!" Ryoga protests.

"As far as I've seen, RIKA hasn't really lied or been cowardly once!"

"He's pretending to be a girl just to mess with me!"

"Ryoga, not everything is about you. Have you ever considered the fact that maybe, just maybe, She's a girl because she likes it?

Ryoga seems like his entire world was shaken, but soon recovers. "It doesnt matter, girl or not, I'm still gonna kill her!" he leaps and attacks, making a large crater where Rika was moments ago.

"Ryoga! Wait, that's where the..." water leaks spray from the ground. "Water main is." Adam gives a small squeak before it explodes, water spraying everywhere, sending Ryoga flying off into the distance, his arms and legs flailing, and creating a tsunami that washed away the remaining two martial artists towards the building. Unsuprisingly, the whole school's looking and sees the waters receading, two people against the wall, Rika, and... a girl. Her hair was long and blond, but the most notable thing was the fact you could quite easilly describe her with one word: Kitsune. While they were sopping wet, the vulpine ears and tail were unmistakable. "2 Days, new record..." she rolled her eyes.

* * *

Adam stood by the gates to the school after classes, a bottle of water in his hands, and he looks up as Rika and Akane approach. "Well, guess I owe an explination." he uncaps the water and pours a little on his head, his hair growing longer and changing from a dirty blonde to a normal blonde as he became a she. "Just... can you call me Aki? I just find it's easiest to have one name instead of a name for each form."

"What do you mean?" Akane tilted her head. "You're a guy, right? Or are you like Rika?"

"Hmmm... well, Yes and No. I guess the best way to describe it is i'm gender-fluid. Some days I feel more male, some I feel more female." she shrugs. "To be honest, it woulda been better if I fell into the Nyanichuan, less stares, but I'm not willing to risk messing with it, Spring of Drowned Fox/Girl isnt that bad."

"A drowned Kitsune?" Akane seems suspicious.

"No, a young girl and her pet fox. the curses mingled. Most people dont take well to curses being shown to be real, so I registered as Adam, but figured it wouldn't keep for long. But now it's known, no reason to hide it, huh? You guys got some time?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, there's this store that had the cutest pair of shoes, and what better way to get to know eachother, if you two even wanna be friends."

Akane grimaces. "But... but... you're a guy! At least Rika's always been a girl in mind!"

"I'm PRETTY sure I'm a girl right now, and it's not like I looked really masculine as a guy anyways, made it pretty easy to pass as a girl when I felt that way." she twirls some hair around her finger. "Well, we gonna get going?"

"Come on, Akane, it cant hurt" Rika shrugs, dragging the other girl with her.

* * *

The trio sit at an ice cream shop, Aki grumbling. "Stupid store... making me choose between Ice Cream and being me..." He grumbles, having been made to be a guy because of his female form's tail and ears.

"Come on, Aki, cheer up" Akane said. "It's not too bad"

"I will when I get back to being a girl again..." he grumbles. It passes pretty quietly for a few minutes before the wall explodes.

"Shampoo Kill Aki!" a purple-haired amazon stood where the wall had been moments ago, having broken down the wall with her weapon.

"God DAMN it, Shampoo!" Aki jumps to his feet. "I get you've got this whole murder thing going on, but you really need to stop breaking walls to attack me. I mean, you're not even using it to sneak attack me, so it's just pointless destruction!"

"Aki talk too much, Shampoo kill!" the girl charges, as he turns and bolts. Looking at one another, the two girls follow, Rika stopping off to pay for the ice cream and appologize for the mess.

"We'll see how we can help fix the wall" the redhead tells the man and runs after the others, leaving him to just stare after them.

A few minutes later, a blonde girl sits by a fountain, focusing very hard to not let her vulpine ears or tail move as a certain amazon approached.

"You see girl run through? Short hair? Plain look?"

"Nope, haven't seen anyone like that."

"Ok, Shampoo go now." the amazon ran off as the girls catch up.

"Who the heck was that?" Akane asked the second she arrived.

"THAT, was Shampoo, a crazy amazon who's after me because I beat her in a fight, and I didnt even really beat her, she beat herself."

* * *

China

Aki stood near a cliff, looking over the valley below. "So, this is Jusyenko... Somehow, I was expecting more from cursed springs, guess maybe that was just a rumor." the boy stood, preping for the treck down, when he heard a growl. Turning to it, he saw a grizzly bear swiping at a familiar boy, who was focused on the bear. "Ryoga, look out for the cliff!" he shouts a moment too late as the Lost Boy backs into him, knocking the two off-balance and tumbling over the edge. Reacting quickly, Aki tries to toss Ryoga back up, but he isnt strong enough, only tossing the Lost Boy up a bit as he falls towards one of the springs, spreading his arms in a small attempt to slow his fall a bit to maximize his chances of survival, shifting to a cannonball position, hoping the water was deep enough that he wouldnt just become a pancake. Meanwhile, Ryoga finds himself near the wall, digging his feet in, he goes to push himself back up, when the wall shifts, as the outcropping gives way and starts a downward path. Reacting on instinct, he pushes off from the falling rock to avoid being crushed, then finding himself in the air over the springs, the only things available to stop himself being the bamboo poles, and he wasnt close enough to any to use as he plunges right into a pool. The twin splashes brings the guide out, seeing Ryoga emerging from the water.

"You human or animal who wander in?"

"Of course I'm... human..." Ryoga trails off with the sound of "his" voice.

"Based on reaction, I guess you boy, no? You fall in Nyanichuan, Spring of Drowned girl. Very, very tragic story of young girl who drown there 1500 year ago, now whoever fall in take form of girl. Please come in, I go find other splash."

Aki shook her head, thinking she was seeing things, not only did it look like she was female, which in and of itself wasn't bad, but what really made her think she was seing things was the fox tail in her hands. Hearing footsteps, she looked up to see a man approaching. "Am I seeing things, or do I have a tail now?" she asked, kind of liking the sound of her voice.

"You fall in Hulinuhaichuan, Spring of Drowned Fox/Girl, very tragic story of girl and pet fox who drown there 1500 year ago. Now, curses mix, and anyone who fall in become fox-girl." He gestures. "Please follow me and I explain curse"

Aki walks in, and sees a girl sulking in the corner, the clothes, bag, and bandana making it clear who it was. "Ryoga?"

"Yeah, laugh it up... I'm gonna kill Ranma for this!"

"Ryoga, this was your fault, if you hadent been toying with that bear, or been watching where you were going, you wouldn't be in this position.

"Easy for you to say, you actually like to be girly!"

"Now, now, if this one understand you two Mr. Customers, no?" the guide cuts in, a kettle in his hand, with two nods he holds it out. "Now, this one explain how curse works, hot water return you to birth form." He pours a little on Ryoga, turning him male again. "See? You boy again. You stay boy until next splashed with cold water, which re-activate curse." Aki is returned to male form as well.

"Is there any way to reverse it?" Ryoga pipes up. "I'd really rather not turn into a girl"

"This one know no cure, possible women of Jusendo may know of something, but not likely. This one very sorry, Mr. Customer." the man stirs a soup. "Tomorrow we go to village, ok?"

The next day, Aki woke early. "Did... anyone else come by recently?"

"Two other come through yesterday, fat bald man and son. They no listen to warning and become cursed. Fat man fall in Shonmaonichuan, while boy fall in Nyannicuan, like friend. She refuse to visit warror women, said she happy she curse, and drag panda away."

"Thank-you, please don't tell Ryoga this, he'd likely blindly charge off and get himself lost again."

"This one's lips are sealed"

Leter, the three approach the gates, having avoided cold water on the way. -Halt, what do you want, male?- one of the guards demands in chinese.

-We come to speak with village elder" the guide bows as he replies.

-very well- she nods and lets the trio through. -keep a close eye on them, we don't want anything happening-

The guide leads the two towards some kind of festivle. "We arrive on good day, today annual tournement... Where Mr. Customer go?" Aki looks around, and Ryoga isn't anywhere in sight.

"Oh, come ON, Ryoga, how hard is it to walk with us?!" Aki growls. "He has the WORST sense of direction ever, and cant even follow simple directions, you tell him to take the left road, he'll thank you... then go right."

"This one hope he no get in trouble"

"So do I..." a crash is heard. "Or not..." he groans seeing the lost boy unconcious in the remains of a table, food scattered all over, it seems the larger fighter had been sent flying, and struck Ryoga, sending him flying into the prize table.

-Aiyah! That boy destroyed my prize!- The purple-haired victor of the fight was at the table.

"She not happy prize for first place destroyed." The guide translated.

"Ive picked up a little chinese, but I'm not very good with it..." he stepped up to the girl. -Prize for win of fight... so I fight for potato.- He blinked as the girl looked at him a bit confused, then laughed.

"You say that you fight for potato" The guide interjects.

"Oh, oops..." he chuckled. -I no say that purpose. Know little language. Mean fight prize for.- the girl nodded, and headed for the log, and he gave a relieved sigh that he'd gotten his point across.

The two fighters stand on the log, Shampoo with her weapons at the ready, as Aki stands at the far edge, balancing easilly, yet with his hands behind his back. Everyone seems confused that what seemed to be an outsider with no training had challeged the village champion, and waited for the challenging... girl? it was hard to tell, they could easilly go either way, but the body language seemed more female than male, to make a move. After a few moments, Shampoo got tired of waiting, and attacked, going for one powerful blow to end it immediately. As she nears, Aki grins and leaps, twisting in midair as Shapoo's target is suddenly gone, leaving nothing to stop her strike as she sails right off the log, the challenger landing and facing her, his trick having worked. He knew he would be at a big disadvantage in a direct fight, the log would limit him too much, so he tricked the amazon to go all-in on what she thought was a certain blow right by the edge, letting the over-eager attack send her sailing right it.

-Win, so mean all good? Can go now?- the outsider asks as he hops down to Shampoo, offering her a hand up. -No mean issue, just question elder of ask- 'she' says, giving a friendly smile, as Shampoo growls in anger at the 'girl's' attitude after humiliating her, and now 'she' was speaking almost jibberish. The amazon angrilly pulled herself closer, leaned in towards the offender, who seemed confused as she kissed 'her' cheek, before the foolish guide grabbed 'her', the unconcious Hibiki, and bolted.

"Oh, no good, that Amazon Kiss of Death, promise to hunt and kill." the guide explains as they run. "Two of you need to be going now"

* * *

"So she wants to kill you just because you beat her in a fight?" Akane asked, very confused.

"The funniest thing is it was she who beat herself." the fox-girl giggled.

"And she thinks youre male form is a girl?" asked the third girl, the redhead sitting opposite of Akane as the three sat on the fountain.

"Yeah, I was never quite a manly man, even when I felt like a guy. I'd get mistaken for a girl pretty often, though that doesnt quite replace actually BEING one" she happilly hugs her tail. "I know that as I later got my hands on a lawbook from those women, and according to it, they give a Kiss of Death to any outsider female who beats them, and a Kiss of Marriage to any outsider male. Looking over what else was in the book, as it wasn't really complete, I found they'll happilly kill anyone they see as an obsticle, so I'd much rather her trying to kill me, than trying to marry me and possibly attacking any of my friends that would likely happen if she learned the girl she was hunting was actually a guy." She looks over to Rika, who seemed to be lost in thought. "What is it?"

"I'm just thinking that if I hadn't dragged pops away, that could've been me she was after. Pops woulda just eaten that food and I'd have likely challenged her, not knowing those rules..." she's focused on her thumbs. "I'm kinda glad she's not after me, but I can't immagine what it's like."

"We're off the log and in Japan now, I've got the upper-hand here, and a quick switch once losing line of sight and her target vanishes without a trace, though if she sees these move, she may put 2 and 2 together... Don't worry about it, you got enough to worry about. Well, it's getting late, best I get heading home." she stands. "See ya two at school!" she waves, heading off.

* * *

Alsend Drake here, so, Shampoo and Ryoga have shown up, but we still need to introduce more of the main crew. And yes, I'm handing out some of the craziness, Ryoga gets to deal with the Nyaniichuan curse, Aki gets to have the amazons on his tail, though not literally... yet, while Rika still had the idiot Genma as a father, and all the deals he's made coming back to haunt him.

And just to have it known, Happosai will NOT show up as a core character, he may show up later on as a one-off enemy, but I really dont like him, so dont hold your breath

Net time on Rika 1/2: A New Competition? Maybe! :P


End file.
